


See You In A Thousand Years

by InfamousPlayer



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Takes place in the Sonic Boom universe, just pretend Rouge is there and has known Sonic and the gang for a while
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-20
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-29 03:01:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30149748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InfamousPlayer/pseuds/InfamousPlayer
Summary: Seeing the look in his eyes, Rouge can't help but wonder: What the hell is up with him?
Relationships: Rouge the Bat & Sonic the Hedgehog
Kudos: 11





	See You In A Thousand Years

**Author's Note:**

> So... yeah, I know, a little different, but whatever. Yes, I'm a big fan of Sonic and it's characters, and for some reason took a particular interest in the Boom Universe, probably because it's cartoon is actually pretty good, but this one is about the game, you know, the one that sucked. Yeah, okay, that doesn't exactly narrow it down, but I mean Rise Of Lyric. There's a scene there that got my attention, the one where Sonic traps Lyric for a thousand years and says the line that became the title. I always thought that the scene was a little weird. Sonic was WAY too serious and merciless and even Tails glanced at him from the corner of his eyes for a second. So of course, by clinically damaged brain decided it would be a great idea to replace Tails with Rouge because I love her and Sonic interacting and being friends and also because the fact that the whole gang blaming Sonic for releasing Lyric even though he saved all their lives by opening those ruins and also not taking any blame and throwing it all on him even if they ran to those ruins without complaining also always annoyed the shit out of me, so I decided to adress that too. Honestly was just trying to make the plot of that shit more interesting, really. Really can't be appreciated if you haven't seen the game's story at least until the half way point, so I doubt anyone will read this, but this is really here mostly for fun, since I had written this almost a year ago and just finished it now, so please, to whoever is interested, enjoy!

Flipping back, Sonic expertly dodged Lyric's tail and immediately punched him in the face as soon as the snake had turned around, sending him towards the cold hard floor face first. Wasting no time, the hedgehog grabbed Lyric's tail and spun around in super speed, ignoring the poor snake's screams of distress as he became a blue hurricane, finally releasing the villain and watching as he hit the wall with a loud crack, slumping to the ground completely unconscious.

Wiping away the dirt from his hands, Sonic huffed. "Too easy. Rouge, are we done yet or do you want to wait here a little longer? Maybe enjoy the scenery with slippy over there." He taunted playfully as the bat finally got the map, storing the phone like device she always carried with her away.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'm sure there're a lot of valuable items to steal at this point in time." Rouge teased back immediately, although Sonic knew she would raid this whole place if she had the chance. Shaking his head, the hedgehog huffed again.

"No thank you. Let's get out of here before you break the timeline or something." He said casually while walking towards the open exit where they came from. The bat followed him easily, swaying her hips like she always did, no matter if there wasn't anyone there to see or if her blue friend wasn't affected in the slightest by it.

"Please hun, I'm not you." She shot back, and Sonic just scoffed, not even bothering to give a response. Normally she wouldn't care about this in the slightest; it was just playful banter that came with the friendship that finally formed after so long of chasing each other around and being frenemies. However, she didn't miss the way he deflated slightly, his eyes losing a bit of that usual passion that she admired so much and quills lowering just a little. No one else would have noticed it.

But she did.

And she didn't like it one bit.

Rouge was about to ask what was wrong- _yes, she cared, thank you very much-_ but the sound of pained groaning caught both of their attention. Turning around, the hedgehog and the bat saw Lyric slowly rising up, shaking his head and trying to get rid of the dizziness in his eyes. As soon as he did, his eyes narrowed into slits and bore holes into the two mobians. To no effect whatsoever.

"That one has a hard head." Sonic commented with a smirk as he picked Rouge up bridal style. "I see why he likes you so much." The bat drawled sarcastically as the blue blur sped them both past the exit, carefully depositing her back on the floor before swiftly turning around and placing his hand on the hand shaped control that activated the door.

The glass door slammed closed just as Lyric slammed into it, his anger filled eyes meeting Sonic's, and Rouge couldn't help but shudder at the look he was giving the snake. A cold, hard, _furious_ glare, not caring in the slightest about what would happen with the snake mech now that he was trapped to his terrible fate.

 _"See you in a thousand years."_ It was meant to be sarcastic, witty, funny, everything that defined Sonic, but it only came out as cold, uncaring, merciless, everything that most definitely didn't define him. Turning around, the hedgehog didn't even bother to look at her as he walked away from the door, his posture serious and rigid, eyes not losing that same cold fire that had appeared in them the second he laid his eyes on Lyric.

Sparing a glance to the snake, the bat didn't exactly know how to feel. SHE was usually the uncaring one, not the other way around. And as much as she couldn't care less about what would happen to him, she couldn't help but feel a tinge of sympathy for the villain. 

_How ironic._

Turning around without giving any words, the bat took flight as she followed Sonic down the hall where he was still walking, posture less rigid but still just as serious. Landing next to him, she grabbed his wrist firmly, making him turn around to meet her firm gaze.

"What's up with you?" She questioned, her tone leaving no room for argument, and his eyes widened for a split second before they went back to their relaxed state, like putting on a mask. She would know. She used to do that a lot herself.

"What's up with what?" He asked confused, but it was so obvious he was playing dumb that it honestly offended her that he thought that would work. She raised a brow, hand not leaving his wrist. "Really, Big Blue? The glare you gave slippy back there was enough to scare _me._ Something's not right. And I know it's not just because of Shadow." The bat assessed, and Sonic flinched as if he had been struck, but not because he was offended. 

Because he was ashamed.

"I- I didn't- I didn't mean to-" He sputtered, eyes so wide and guilty that she wondered how he managed to be so cheerful all the time. _Probably the same way I pretended to be, she thought bitterly._

"I'm not mad at you Big Blue. You did nothing wrong. The guy deserved that. But you never act like that even when the guy deserves it. Eggman is the living proof of that." She teased, trying to get that stupid, guilty, horrified look out of his eyes that made her want to kick herself for putting it in there in the first place.

He laughed a little, tightly, as if he was holding back tears. Hell, he probably was. And that was even scarier than him acting like Shadow. Sonic _never_ cried. _Ever._ The hedgehog looked away, trying to look anywhere but at her, and her hand left his wrist to snake it's way into his hand, squeezing his gloved fingers reassuringly.

"What's wrong, Sonic?" She murmured, and maybe it was the unusual tenderness of her voice, or the way she used his name for once, or maybe he just finally gave up on hiding everything. Whatever it was, he whispered carefully, fearfully. _"This is all my fault."_

Rouge's eyes widened as she realized what this was all about, and she cursed herself for not realizing it sooner. Of course he was blaming himself. Everyone else was doing it. 

The bat suppressed the urge to growl at herself. She was with the group when Sonic led them into the ruins, and she remembered very well how Amy, Knuckles and Tails blamed him for imprisoning them there even though none of them had complained when they ran towards the temple door to escape the huge army of robots and Metal Sonic. Which of course, made Lyric coming back to life his fault too, in his eyes.

She kept her mouth shut at the time, thinking this was just them being stupid and that it would pass with time. But then, when they found out Lyric had been freed because Sonic opened the door to the ruins, Amy, Knuckles and even Tails turned to him, as if they hadn't ran after him as well and as if he hadn't saved their lives. He brushed them off as usual, but that didn't stop Rouge from giving them a piece of her mind when he sped away in the water.

Needless to say, they didn't bring it up again. She would never get tired of seeing big and bulky Knuckles looking like a kicked puppy. Although not even she liked seeing Tails blinking back tears. But she wouldn't have said it if he had been a better friend now, would she?

_Like that helped._

She shook the bitter thought away, knowing that beating herself up for this wouldn't help, as much as she would like it to. Sonic was still looking away from her, and his eyes looked wet. Goddamnit he really was about to cry.

"Sonic, none of this is on you. We all ran to that gate, and if you hadn't opened it, we would most likely be dead by now." She reasoned, trying to use logic but knowing it would be fruitless. Sonic always followed his emotions instead of his head. 

He was already shaking his head in denial, pulling his hand away from hers and stepping away from the bat, as if trying to refuse her comfort. "No. I should've trusted you guys, we could've taken them on. And now the world is in danger and everyone is mad at me and they are right. I screwed this up. And now Tails is hurt and-" He rambled on, tears already visible in the corner of his eyes, and Rouge flinched a little at the reminder of the fox.

Shadow had gotten him pretty good in his fight with Sonic. She didn't remember being as furious with the black hedgehog as she was right now for a LONG time, and she was sure Sonic felt the same, if the beating he gave his counterpart was anything to go by. But of course, he was blaming himself for that as well. It was the reason she was here with him instead of back there with Knuckles and Amy. She didn't blame Sonic for not wanting to be near the echidna or the pink hedgehog for now. 

If the hurt look in their faces when he called Rouge to enter the portal with him without even sparing a glance at them was anything to go by, then they most likely knew they had screwed up.

But of course Sonic wasn't angry with them. He actually thought they were _right._ He just didn't want them reminding him of that. A sudden urge to kick them in the face as soon as they got back struck her, but she pushed it back. They knew they screwed up, they felt terrible about it, they were her _friends._ And friends forgave each other, no matter what.

Chaos, Sonic really was rubbing off on her.

Shaking her thoughts away, Rouge decided to take a page of the hedgehog's book and threw caution to the wind, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around him, pulling him into a hug. The hedgehog stiffening against her was all the proof she needed that he was just as surprised by her actions as she was.

But it worked. Barely two seconds had passed before the hedgehog melted against her, burying his face in her shoulder and letting his tears silently fall. It was funny, really. She usually _HATED_ when someone got her clothes dirty, taking her sweet time to lecture anyone who dared to forget that piece of information and making absolutely sure it would never happen again. But she didn't even bat an eye as she felt her shoulder get soaked with tears, her only focus being the hedgehog in her arms who she couldn't even comprehend when he became so important to her.

The only thing Rouge knew was that she didn't give a shit about anything besides making sure he was okay before they got back.

"Sonic, I want you to listen very carefully." The bat said, voice a hushed whisper that she usually used to silently threaten someone or to get something she really wanted while the idiot was distracted by her breasts. Sonic didn't dare to interrupt, having heard this tone of hers enough times to know that he was supposed to shut up right now. Not that he was complaining. Rouge hugged surprisingly well.

"Tails injuries are _not_ on you. Shadow just attacked us out of nowhere, for no reason at all, and even if he _has_ a reason, it won't stop me from shoving a brick up his ass when we get back." Sonic couldn't help but laugh tearfully at that, and the ex (most of the time) thief couldn't help but smile at that, before getting her serious face on again.

"You are probably the only reason Tails is still alive, and things would've turned out a lot worse if you hadn't been there. So please, _please_ don't let a bunch of hypocrites who probably need a smack on the head get to you okay? You're usually more dignified than that." She smirked, and Sonic shakily smiled back, knowing very well that this was the closest thing to comfort he would get from Rouge in... probably ever.

Rouge didn't do _comfort._ And usually neither did he. But he really needed that right now, and he was so, so thankful that she gave it to him. He felt the need to verbalize that, but of course, he had to screw it up somehow.

"Thank you so much. I love you. I-" immediately snapping his mouth shut, Sonic really didn't know where to shove his ass now. What the fuck was he thinking? Where the hell did his brain-mouth filter go? Of course it was never the best, but at least it fucking existed!

Rouge was just staring at him with eyes wider than she ever let anyone see, and he would've laughed and smirked and teased in any other situation, but this _really_ wasn't any other situation.

"I- I'm sorry. Shouldn't have said that. I'm an asshole. I know what these words mean to you, I shouldn't ha-

"Sonic."

"I don't know what was wrong with me, I'm sorry, I'm just not in the best place right now, but it wasn't in any weird romantic kind of sense, I just-

_"Sonic."_

"I'm really sorry I- Here, you can punch me. I won't dodge or block or anything, you can even kick in the nuts if you think that's be-

Shoving a hand to his mouth to get him to stop talking, Rouge said one more time, annoyed, exasperated, shocked, touched, and several other words that finished with _"ed"._

She didn't know what to say.

It's been a _really long time_ since that happened.

Taking a deep breath and not letting up her stern glare, she could see Sonic was terrified of what came next, and while usually seeing someone like that was the best position she get someone into, Sonic, as usual, was the exception to that.

Making sure he wasn't going to make a fool of himself by talking his ass off, she let her hand fall, smiling brightly at him, brighter than she ever did in her life, and once again, it was thanks to this guy.

She was so glad they crossed paths, so glad he managed to change her mind.

_She would never, ever let this stupid idiot of a hero go._

"I love you too, Big Blue." Sonic froze, not knowing what to do with his mouth, so of course, Rouge just changed her smile to a smirk and walked away like nothing happened, back to their objective.

"This never happened by the way." She called back as he hurried after her, still too stunned to use his super speed, and the bat didn't need to look at her friend to know that he was smiling in that annoyingly endearing way of his.

"Nope. _Never."_


End file.
